From the Shores of Eire

Okay, back in Cambridge only to turn around and head off to London. So here's what happened in Ireland.

Our first stop was the city of Galway on the Irish coast. It was...quaint. Not a lot to do truth be told though we did go to a local pub and hear traditional Irish music, so that was nice.


The next day we jumped on a ferry...okay, that sounds wrong, let's try that again....we boarded a ferry (eh) and headed off to the Aran Islands. The ride itself was fun for me just because I love sea. It's one of the few places in the world I feel at peace.



King of the World...I never saw that movie, heard it was kinda overrated. Ah well.

We caught a bus tour that took us around Innis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. It is approximately eleven miles long and three miles across at its widest point. It's also one of the few remaining places where people speak Gaelic, which Adam pointed out later sounds an awful lot like German.


This is a ring fort, originally built by the ancient Celts who settled here thousands of years ago.


Just for you Anna....

Afterwards we went to the Aran Islands seal colony. If you're lucky (which sadly we weren't) you can see dozens of seals laying on the rocks at low tide. This wasn't the case the day we went but I did manage to see at least one seal bobbing his head in and out of the water.

Our last stop on the Aran Islands was Dan Agonhasa, the great cliffs and the site of another ancient Celtic fort. This was a unique experience for me. I hate heights but I love the sea, so the cliffs inspired in me an odd juxtaposition (yes, that is a real word, look it up) of fear and awe.





When we left the islands we caught a bus and headed for the town of Navan. Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either till I looked online to find some cool places that figure into Irish mythology I could visit, since it was of course independent travel. Navan itself is just a town, about an hour north of Dublin. However it is situated in some beautiful Irish country side, giving us the chance to see why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle.


The mythological site I wanted to see was located about twenty minutes from Navan. It is called Newgrange, a megalithic tomb, a thousand years older than Stonehenge and five hundred years older than the pyramids at Giza. According to legend, it is the tomb of the Dagda, king of the Irish gods (yeah, I know, who else but me would go on a four and a half hour bus ride to see the tomb of a dead god?).
This is the stone outside the entrance to the tomb itself, apparently the most photographed stone in Ireland. The circles carved into it are symbols that repeat all throughout Celtic iconography but to this day no one knows what they mean.


What's behind megalithic tomb number one...?
There was also a small stone circle outside the tomb.
Ever have an itch you just can't reach...?

Our last night in Ireland we stayed in Dublin. Everyone else thought it was neat; me, I thought it was just another city, big, bright, fast, not very relaxing. Although we did get a special treat. We visited the Arlington Hotel where we got to hear Irish music and Irish dancing.





Now THAT was cool.

Alright, that's all for now. Tomorrow we head to my favorite city in the world, London. See you next post.

A Nutcase in the North

Good grief, has it really been two weeks since I've updated this thing? Aye-yi-yi, time flies, doesn't it? Unless of course you're taking bus rides to Zeus knows where that last four hours, but that's just me.

Last week Andy loaded us up into the coach and took us to the wild blue yonder called the Lake District, so named because...wait for it, it has a lake, a big one at that. It's basically England's ultimate outdoors destination, for those of you who like that stuff (cough-Dad-cough-cough).

Not gonna lie though, it was beautiful. Our hostel was right on the waterfront so everyday, morning noon and night, you had an awesome view.


I asked Juliane to get a picture of me on the dock, and I tried to crouch down and make it look like I was gonna jump in but it didn't quite have the desired effect...

Go ahead, snicker, I'll wait....

...you done? Good, moving on.

I headed out with AJ, Anna R, and Juliane and we explored the park near our hostel. It was kinda foggy but we still got some cool picks all the same.

The only annoying thing was this valley is used by the Royal Air Force for radar practice, so every twenty minutes or so a fighter jet would fly overhead followed by a distinct WHOOSH! Anna R thought it was cool but it irritated me, a) because it disrupted the serenity of the valley and b) once the jet had passed I had "Highway to the Danger Zone" from Top Gun playing in my head. Grrr, blast you Tom Cruise!



While we were out we came across this hill with trees on it. I bounded up and down feeling like a Scottish highlander.

See John run...
See John pose...
See John bounding like Rob Roy, hehe...oh come on people, William Wallace isn't the only famous Scotsman in history.

This is the remains of a Roman outpost, specifically the south gate. And yes I knew that instinctively, without a fancy plaque on the ground spelling it out for me or anything.


The next day was...interesting. It was our outdoor character building day as Calvin's dad would put it (no, not John Calvin, Calvin as in Calvin & Hobbes, the greatest comic strip of all time...ah, forget it). We had two activities planned, rock climbing then "canoeing" (I'll explain in a minute). For these excursions, Andy supplied us with wetsuits...

Dr. Jekyll, you're wanted in the OR, Dr. Jekyll to the OR, please...

We split into two groups, mine went rock climbing first. As I've said before, I do not like heights. I like mountains, but I don't like climbing straight up. Yet somehow, there I was climbing up a rock face at least thirty feet high.

Here's what was going through my head at this moment:

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, right now I wish I was Spider-Man

Yeesh...

About halfway up my brain decided "That's enough, boyo" and I said I wanted to come down. The guy holding the rope told me to put up against the face and repel down, but I slipped and swung out like Tarzan on a vine complete with sound effects "AAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!" No I didn't really do that, but it would've been funnier than Hades if I had.

Once that was over we went "canoeing" at least what the Brits call canoeing, what we'd call kayaking. I got the hang of it eventually, once I stopped treating my kayak like a canoe. Eh.

Our next outing was to the former home of William Wordsworth, a famous poet who drew his inspiration from the Lake District's natural beauty. Our guide was Dr. Hogg, and after we finished with Wordsworth's home he took us on a hike through the mountains, or fells as the Brits call them. When it was over it was easy to see why Wordsworth felt inspired by this place.

This the Lion and The Lamb. If you look closely you can see the lion on the top of the mountain with the lamb's head beside it.





To Yahweh, by whose hand
These mountains did raise
To Yahweh, shaper of worlds
Do I give this praise



Pretty cool, huh?

This waterfall was a little side trip Dr. Hogg took us on, those of us not completely dead from the hike (you're right, Dad, all those backpacking trips you dragged me in did come in handy I admit it).



After our fourth night in the Lake District, we continued our journey northward, to the border of Scotland, the land where it's considered manly to wear a skirt. The big draw in that area was of course Hadrian's Wall, built by the Roman emporer Hadrian to show, well frankly, that he could.


Before going to the actual wall, we stopped by a small museum that held a few artifacts from when the wall was excavated. This appealed to me because, what else, a few of the artifacts had mythological value.
This is an altar dedicated to Jupiter, the Greatest and the Best, the king of the gods, the Roman equivalent of Zeus.
This is Mars, aka Ares, god of war, thus naturally the patron god of the soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall.
This was a real treat for me because this altar depicts my favorite mythological figure, Hercules, performing the First of his Twelve Labors, the slaying of the Nemean Lion.

Now I know some of you probably have the theme from Disney's Hercules playing in your heads, and I'm sure you're enjoying it. Don't. That movie is an abomination to the Greek myths, less than 0.1% accurate to the actual stories.

Here we are now at Hadrian's Wall itself. According to Dr. Hogg it stretches for 80 Roman miles, but there's only one place you can actually walk on it.


I got to do something I'd always wanted to do since I heard about Hadrian's Wall. I climbed over it looked into Scotland and roared at the top of my lungs. It felt good, and it scared the crap out of Britney, hehehehe. One more thing to cross off the Bucket List.

We then went to the ruins of one of the main Roman forts, where we found a symbol that the Romans used to eh, "ward off" the evil eye. Hehe.

Who needs a sundial when you have one of these.
Oh, those Romans. Least now whenever someone says Americans are obsessed with phallic symbols, I can be like "Yeah, about that...."


Once we hand finished at Hadrian's Wall we went to the town of Hexham, and there were split up into pairs to stay with our host families. Jeff and I stayed with Mr and Mrs. Voubles (I hope I'm spelling that right, I have no idea). Turns out Mr. Voubles is actually Dr. Voubles, a former gastro-intenstinal surgeon, their version of colon-rectal. Small world, eh, Dad?

They were very nice, you could tell they were grandparents, asking all sorts of questions, where we were going, anything in particular we wanted to eat, etc.

Our first day in Hexham we headed to Lindesfarne, the Holy Island, were several British saints are said to have begun their ministries.

This is Lindesfarne Castle which we didn't have time to visit (so no goofy gargoyle pics....this time)

We also saw, er, a rather environmentally friendly automobile. Now I've heard of going green, but this is ridiculous.

Somewhere, Al Gore's rubbing his hands together going "Muhuhahaha! At last I've done it. They all laughed at me but who's laughing now fools! Ahahaha!"

Then the guys in the white coats come in and say "Mr. Gore, it's time for your pills."

Our last stop in the north was Durham Cathedral. Yeah, yeah, I know another freakin' cathedral, but there all over the place what can I say.
This was the knocker (hehe, "What knockers!" Ah, Young Frankenstein) that fugitives could grasp to earn sanctuary in the cathedral. They had thirty-seven days (I think) to decide if they were going to stay and stand trial or leave England by the nearest port. I wonder which got chosen more often.


The only thing to do inside was climb the cathedral's tower. I essentially paid three pounds to wear myself out climbing over twenty stories of stairs.

Anyway, we're back in Cambridge now, to catch up on classes and to prepare for our next adventure. In a few days we're off to the Emerald Isle. Ireland. See you next post.